Attachment for yarn apparatus for automatically forming a fisherman knot or the like

ABSTRACT

An attachment for yarn apparatus for automatically forming a Fisherman Knot, which attachment eliminates the necessity of clean-up operations due to dust collecting inside the working parts thereof, by providing the yarn-spreading elements on the outer surface of the attachment&#39;&#39;s front wall body, by providing the yarn-blocking rod on the inner surface of the attachment&#39;&#39;s rear wall body, and by rendering the attachment operationally independent of the yarn apparatus itself.

United States Patent 1 1 Messa 1111 3,734,285 1 May 22, 1973 [54] ATTACHMENT FOR YARN APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY FORMING A FISHERMAN KNOT OR THE LIKE [76] Inventor: Pietro Messa, via Gasparo da Sale 126, Salo, Italy [22] Filed: Feb. 22, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 227,997

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 25, 1971 Italy ..5/26 A/7l [52] US. Cl. ..289/2 [51] Int. Cl. ..A0ld 59/04 [58] Field of Search ..289/2 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,166,346 1/1965 Gotz ..289/2 1/1967 Francis ..289/2 12/1970 Savio ..289/2 Primary Examiner-Louis K. Rimrodt Attorney-Clario Ceccon [57] ABSTRACT 3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures Patented May 22, 1973 3,734,285

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTACHMENT FOR YARN APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY FORMING A FISHERMAN KNOT OR THE LIKE FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to yarn apparatus in general and to attachments, in particular, for automatically forming the so-called Fisherman Knot or the like.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In conventional, automatic, Knot-forming attachments for use in yarn apparatus, the two levers which serve the purpose of stretching and spreading apart the yarns during the Knot-forming operation, are mounted inside the body of the attachment, behind the front wall or cover thereof, and protrude from the upper part thereof through an opening which allows the free displacement of the levers during the Knot-forming operation.

The presence of an opening in the upper portion of the body of the attachment permits, however, dust and other damaging substances to penetrate within the body of the attachment with the resultant harmful effects on the operational components of the attachment and on the rotating drum where the actuating cams for the levers are situated.

The positioning of the levers mentioned hereabove inside of the body of the attachment, obviously, necessitates a continuous cleaning of the machinery involved and this cleaning requirements, generally, necessitates the stopping of the machine as well as the disassembling of the members to be cleaned, with resultant losses in production and manpower.

Furthermore, in the conventional Knot-forming attachments there is provided a rod which is capable of reciprocal vertical displacements and which cooperates with a fixed angle plate attached to the supporting member of the yarn-spreading element of the attachment to block the two yarns at the termination of the Knot-forming operation and to sever these yarns, even by tearing action, in the event that they are not clearly cut by the scissors element of the attachment. This rod is actuated by a suitably provided link mechanism controlled by the yarn apparatus itself. Consequently, the Knot-forming attachments of the prior art are not fully autonomous and independent in their work, but are quite dependent on the apparatus to which they are applied and attached.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is, therefore, the main object of the present invention to provide an automatic Knot-forming attachment for making the so-called Fisherman Knot, which overcomes the disadvantages of the conventional attachments mentioned hereinabove and, especially, eliminates or at least substantially reduces the need for frequent, accurate cleaning of the critical members thereof, namely, the elements which control the levers wall or cover thereof, so as to confer to the attachment a closed configuration, wherein the conventional upper opening is eliminated. The possibility of dust particles to enter the inner works of the attachment, thus damaging the rotating elements thereof, is fully obviated.

Another characteristic of the Knot-forming attachment of the invention resides in that the vertical rod which blocks the yarns at the termination of the Knotforming operation, is actuated by a L-shaped lever, pivoting about its intermediate portion and engaged (by a cam provided on the rotating drum) to the attachments cams, so as to determine the angular displacements of the L-shaped lever in correspondence with the reciprocal vertical displacements of the rod and in cooperation with the movements of the scissors elements of the attachment.

The blocking action of the rod upon the yarns, in cooperation with the fixed angle plate attached to the yarn-spreading members support, is preferably offset with respect to the phase of severance of the yarns by the scissors elements. This is so provided, because it is desirable to intervene in the severance of the yarns, should there be an irregularity in the scissors-cutting operation.

THE DRAWINGS These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled attachment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a vertical, partly-sectional, view taken along the lines A-A; and

FIG. 4 is a vertical, sectional view taken along the lines B-B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With reference to the accompanying drawings, the Knot-forming attachment of the present invention comprises two scissors-pincers groups 9 which serve the purpose of taking, tying and severing the yarns. The yarn-spreading levers 10, which act upon the yarns during the Knot-forming phase of the operation, are pivotably located at 11 on the outside of the body 8 of the attachment, specifically, on the frontal wall 12 thereof (see FIGS. 1 and 3). The two upper terminals of these levers are, therefore, positioned and guided within an upper aperture 13 provided in this frontal wall. The control means for the levers 10 are conventional and do not form part of the invention per se. This control and actuation of the levers is efiected by the cam-drum 14 in cooperation with two other levers (not shown) located on the inner surface of the frontal wall 12 and connected to the pivots of the levers 10.

The attachment of the invention comprises, further, a vertical rod 15 guided by screw pins 16 along the inner surface of the rear wall 8' of the body 8. The screw pins 16 are seated within the respective slots 17 provided in the rod. The rod 15 protrudes from the upper portion of the body 8 and has its upper terminal 18 bevelled. The rod cooperates, in operation, with a fixed angle plate 19 which is rigidly connected to the support member 19' of the yarn-spreading element of the attachment. In the intermediate portion of rod 15 there is provided an L-shaped lever 20 which is pivoting about a pin 21 located on the rear wall 8' of the body 8. The upper extremity of lever 20 is provided with a slot 22 through which passes a pin 23 fixedly attached to the rod 15. This arrangement permits the rod to effect the necessary displacementsv The lower extremity of the lever 20, instead, engages a spring 24 and, intermediate the two extremities of lever 20, spaced from the pin 21, there is provided mounted on the lever 20 a pin or contact roller 26 which is actuated by a cam 27 provided, preferably, on the head of drum 14 (see FIGS. 3 and 4).

By the arrangement described hereabove, as the drum 14 rotates during the Knot-forming operation, the cam 27 determines the angular displacement of the L-shaped lever 20, acting against spring 24. As the lever 20 moves, the rod 15 moves vertically to act, in cooperation with the rigid angle plate 19, upon the yams to be blocked.

In particular, the blocking rod 15 acts in cooperation with the scissors-pincers elements 9 of the attachment, so that the rod 15 becomes displaced downwardly at the beginning of the Knot-forming operation, where it remains for a predetermined angular rotation of elements 9 in order not to engage the yarns. After the yarns are knotted and severed, the rod 15 is displaced upwardly to block (in the event that the yarns are not severed) the yarns for another predetermined angular rotation of elements 9, before the latter release the yarns knotted and severed.

In the event that the yarns were not properly severed by the scissors elements, the'yarns, being blocked by rod 15, are nevertheless severed by the jerking action of the pincers elements before being released and removed by the aspirator unit which is conventionally provided in the yarn apparatus.

When the removal is completed, the rod is displaced again downwardly to free the yarn endings and to position itself for the subsequent Knot-forming operation.

Substantially, therefore, cam 27 which controls the blocking rod 15 is so constructed and shaped as to determine the intervention by the rod after the yarns are severed, but prior to the release of the yarns by the pincers elements.

What I claim and wish to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Attachment for yarn apparatus for automatically forming fisherman knots, which comprises: a body having a frontal wall, a rear wall and an aperture in the upper part of said frontal wall; a pair of scissors-pincers units positioned within said body; a pair of yarnspreading levers pivotably connected to the outer surface of said frontal wall and protruding through said aperture; a yarn-blocking rod capable of reciprocal vertical displacement and connected to the inner surface of said rear wall; an L-shaped lever having one extremity thereof connected to said rod at a point inter-mediate its extremities; a pin mounted on said L-shaped lever at a point intermediate its extremities to control the vertical displacements of said rod; a spring connected to said L-shaped lever at the extremity opposite said one extremity thereof; and rotating means for predeterminedly effect an angular displacement of said L- shaped lever and, concurrently, a vertical displacement of said rod.

2. The attachment of claim 1, wherein said yarnspreading levers are pivoting on two pins which are mutually independent and coaxially positioned.

3. The attachment of claim 1, wherein said yarnblocking rod is provided with a pair of slots for passage therethrough of a pair of pins, said pins being attached to the inner surface of said rear wall; wherein said rod is connected to said L-shaped lever by means of a pinslot arrangement; and wherein said pin mounted on said L-shaped lever is a rolling pin. 

1. Attachment for yarn apparatus for automatically forming fisherman knots, which comprises: a body having a frontal wall, a rear wall and an aperture in the upper part of said frontal wall; a pair of scissors-pincers units positioned within said body; a pair of yarn-spreading levers pivotably connected to the outer surface of said frontal wall and protruding through said aperture; a yarn-blocking rod capable of reciprocal vertical displacement and connected to the inner surface of said rear wall; an L-shaped lever having one extremity thereof connected to said rod at a point inter-mediate its extremities; a pin mounted on said L-shaped lever at a point intermediate its extremities to control the vertical displacements of said rod; a spring connected to said L-shaped lever at the extremity opposite said one extremity thereof; and rotating means for predeterminedly effect an angular displacement of said L-shaped lever and, concurrently, a vertical displacement of said rod.
 2. The attachment of claim 1, wherein said yarn-spreading levers are pivoting on two pins which are mutually independent and coaxially positioned.
 3. The attachment of claim 1, wherein said yarn-blocking rod is provided with a pair of slots for passage therethrough of a pair of pins, said pins being attached to the inner surface of said rear wall; wherein said rod is connected to said L-shaped lever by means of a pin-slot arrangement; and wherein said pin mounted on said L-shaped lever is a rolling pin. 